men’s basketball honored for sportsmanship

The Muhlenberg men’s basketball team received the 2009 Schoenfeld Sportsmanship Award for the Lehigh - Scranton area from the Collegiate Basketball Officials Association (CBOA).

The CBOA is an organization numbering more than 700 members in all divisions residing in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

The award is named after Sam Schoenfeld, one of the founding members of the CBOA. After a brief illness took his life in early 1956, the CBOA decided to memorialize him through an award that would be annually presented to a program that exemplified the principles and characteristics he so prominently displayed. Accordingly, the award is presented to the college or university, which in the judgment of the CBOA membership, best exemplifies “the highest degree of sportsmanship, character and ethics among their players, coaches and spectators.”

The highest honor that the CBOA annually bestows on any collegiate institution, the Schoenfeld Sportsmanship Award is presented to a school in each of 10 areas.

At right, retired Mule coach Dave Madeira accepts the award from CBOA area representative John Leighton.